Following a working session held at its new offices in rue Liège at which Jean-Claude BAQUÉ and his staff had a final look at the agenda, the 85th three-part General Assembly got under way in the fine surrounding of the Société Générale which was made available to FIRA-AER. Thanks once again.

Proceedings opened with a meeting of the nations participating in the Justin Bridou European U18 Championship followed by the Executive Board meeting and the General Assembly.

Two new departures were announced for this authentic European competition in which all British teams are taking part on this occasion. First up was the publication of a handbook similar to the one published for the World Cup followed by the news of the likely television broadcasting of the event by the EUROSPORT channel. As announced by Jean-Claude BAQUE the handbook will include a glossary of definitions and specialised vocabulary along with a wealth of other information. The general programme, contacts, information on each team (instruction leaflet), tournament rules, tournament organisation, medical organisation, rules regarding media and businesses, anti-doping controls, disciplinary procedures, the refereeing disputes committee, financial sanctions and even documents to be submitted by the team manager (remarks and criticism) for next year’s competition, will all be included. This vital tool, accompanied by a slide show presented on the big screen by Michel ARPAILLANGE, Jacques LAURANS and John DAVIS (6 Nations), with further explanations given by the Bigourdan duo, BARRERE and GAUTE and also our “Minister for Finance” José Maria EPALZA proved those who thought it couldn’t be done wrong - everything was prepared down to the last detail! With the exception of England and Ireland who fell victim to transport disruption caused by the bad weather conditions, the Six Nations countries managed to wrap up all issues including accommodation, transport and other practical considerations. The VI Nations senior teams are exempt from relegation and have given a commitment to play for the next three years. In his conclusion Jean-Claude BAQUÉ heralded the start of “a new era”. The next three years, as pointed out by John DAVIS, will involve a lot of intense discussion. This will require the managers of the Six Nations to travel to Lourdes for their Council meeting. “They will come to participate in the event and hopefully suggest improvements for future competitions (JC BAQUÉ). Jacques LAURANS expressed his optimism for the future of the competition which took two years to negotiate and he also congratulated Jean-Claude BAQUÉ on his determination to make the project a reality.